


All I've Ever Wanted

by luna_plath



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Lawyers, Alternate Universe - Student/Teacher, Bars and Pubs, F/M, Law School, Law School AU, One Shot, Prompt Fic, Reylo - Freeform, School, Studying, teaching assistant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-28
Updated: 2018-02-28
Packaged: 2019-03-25 01:04:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13823217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luna_plath/pseuds/luna_plath
Summary: “Are there laws on Jakku?” he asked, his full mouth forming a teasing grin.She huffed; Rey got that question a lot. Her home planet was not known in the larger galaxy for its jurisprudence.“Yes, there are. There are several judges who ride the circuit from one village to another to settle disputes.”“And you want to be one.”“Ever since I was a little girl striping parts, it’s all I wanted to do.”





	All I've Ever Wanted

**Author's Note:**

> I made this about lawyering, my own profession, because I am not creative lol. This came out of an anonymous prompt on Tumblr.

When Rey began her first semester at the Coruscant School of Law, with her scholarship and her second-hand data-pads, she had not known a soul in the capital. That changed once she began her classes in contracts, property, torts, and constitutional law down the street from the New Republic Senate. There were fifty students in her section of classmates—all of whom shared the same schedule and professors with Rey. 

Her legal writing class was much smaller, with only fifteen total students, as well as one TA who worked under Professor Holdo. He sat in the back of the room with a stack of data-pads until their professor instructed, “Ben, introduce yourself.”

That’s when the student, Ben, stood and revealed himself to be at least a head taller than everyone else in the room. Ben Solo had a weekly writing workshop for the 1Ls on Friday afternoons at 4:00. Everyone in the class groaned when he announced the time, but his expression didn’t change. 

Professor Holdo laughed at them, a knowing look in her eye.

Rey soon found out why four o’clock on a Friday had seemed like a laughable complaint to her professor. Most nights, Rey was in the library with Finn, Rose, and Poe until six or seven, the four of them working on their briefs while scratching their heads over contradictory cases, and then she would stumble home to her studio apartment to finish her reading. She would make time for a shower and an instant meal while watching a daily news broadcast over the holonet, but eventually Rey cut out the news broadcast. Her brain didn’t have room for any more information by the end of the day. She would cocoon herself in bed with her casebooks until she fell asleep studying around ten or eleven. 

Most days, she was in the library again by seven with her cup of caf and her pile of school materials before heading to her day of classes. 

By Fridays at 4:00, she felt drained, but Rey couldn’t let herself skip Ben’s not-really-optional writing class. The writing period with Professor Holdo was more for lecture and turning in assignments. Ben was the only one who would help the students pull books from the law library, proofread their writing assignments, and explain how to write about tricky legal concepts.

Some of the people in her section complained that Ben was arrogant, that he must have gotten his position with Profesor Holdo based off his family connections. She saw him several times in the commons with a red-haired upperclassman who always wore a pinched expression and she tried not to pay attention to the gossip about whether the red-haired boy, Ben, or an icy girl named Phasma would become valedictorian of the 2L class. 

On Friday at the end of Ben’s session he invited the seven students in attendance to get a drink with him and his friends at the pub a few blocks from campus.

Finn agreed on their behalf before Rey could open her mouth. Rose and Poe were interested too, and Rey found herself swept up in the group of 1Ls at the mostly empty bar. Ben’s friends, it turned out, were Armitage Hux and Phasma Spicer, two upperclassmen who were on the law review.

Their group swelled as the hours drew on, with more law students joining them after classes, with Rey finding herself at the corner of a table next to Ben.

“So what’s your story?” he asked her, taking a pull from his pint glass. 

Rey shrugged. On a bench packed with students from their section, Finn had just delivered the punch line to a well-received joke. She was glad to be slightly removed from the clamor after such a long week. 

“There’s not much to tell,” she shrugged, knowing he was wondering if she came from a family with a legal legacy. “I’m from Jakku. I want to go back there after school, I think.”

Ben nearly chocked on his beer. 

“Are there laws on Jakku?” he asked, his full mouth forming a teasing grin.

She huffed; Rey got that question a lot. Her home planet was not known in the larger galaxy for its jurisprudence. 

“Yes, there are. There are several judges who ride the circuit from one village to another to settle disputes.”

“And you want to be one.”

“Ever since I was a little girl striping parts, it’s all I wanted to do.”

His brown eyes fixed on her without blinking. The direct attention brought heat to her face that reminded Rey of the burn she got on her skin before it faded to a tan.

Ben asked her more questions about her home world than anyone else she’d met in the capital. He bought her a second beer while her classmates fritted away in twos and threes. After a while they were the only law students in the pub, apart from Ben’s friends, who had been joined by a group of people in black suits and slick haircuts that Rey had never seen at school.

They talked about classes, the proposed trade agreement being debated in the senate, and the value of the rule of law in backwater systems. On her empty stomach, Rey felt dizzy by the time she got to the end of her second beer, which is what she blamed when the conversation veered toward the formation of the New Republic and Rey admitted how much she hated his grandfather. 

Actually, she didn’t just admit to hating Darth Vader, she drunkenly questioned why his mother and his uncle had both gone into law and politics with such a tarnished family legacy.

“Everyone at school talks about it,” she confessed, downing the last swallow of her pint.

After a few moments of silence, Rey realized how rude her questions must have sounded, considering she was talking to Ben Solo, grandson of one of the fascist leaders of the Empire. Eventually the silence became too much. Rey put her hand over her mouth, turning bright red.

In the din of the pub, Ben leaned closer to reply, a smile on his lips.

“Are you hungry?” he asked, his mouth close to the shell of her ear.

Rey leaned back to gape at him. “I insult your family and you want to know if I’m hungry?”

He laughed at her, and despite the smoky light in the bar the expression made him look years younger.

“Yeah. I’m serious. Do you want to get some food with me?”

He stood and offered her his hand.

Smiling despite herself, she took it.


End file.
